Well shit.

Those were the only words that were running through Felicity's mind as Oliver stepped closer, his hand outstretched to shake hers. There was a part of her brain that was on autopilot, so it made her raise her hand like some sort of pavlovian response. But the rest of her was just numb with shock.

"Oh, you two know one another?" Curtis asked.

"We met this summer in Hertfordshire," Oliver answered. "I didn't realize that you were the person interviewing for the projects manager position."

"I didn't realize you were buying this company," she answered.

She must have startled him with her response (God only knew she had startled herself) because the corners of his lips lifted into a smile. In all her dealings with Oliver Queen, she could count on one hand the number of times she'd seen him smile, and every single time she would feel her heart pounding in her chest at the sight of its beauty, no matter what she felt toward him.

This was no exception.

"Well in your defense, we have been keeping it a secret," he quipped.

Oh God, she thought in deepening shock. And he was joking. He was capable of joking. He was capable of actual, honest-to-God human conversation.

Who was this guy?

"So," he continued, "where are you on the tour of the facilities?"

"We were just wrapping up," Curtis piped in. "Felicity here got to see the battery, and I'd say — judging by her expression — she was pretty impressed."

The woman in question blushed at the retelling.

"Excellent," Oliver nodded. "Well if you're wrapping up here, you're probably headed out on your way to dinner, aren't you?"

"Yes, that was the next thing on the itinerary," Curtis affirmed.

"Have you picked a place yet?"

Curtis shook his head.

"Well let me suggest the Star City Diner's Club, at the Emerald Tower," Oliver said as he pulled his phone out of his pocket. "If they stop you at the door, give them my name and they'll seat you immediately."

Curtis' eyes widened in shock, and Felicity stared at him in curiosity. "Of-of course!" he nodded with excitement. "Thank you so much, Mr. Queen!"

He smiled again and it all but confirmed for Felicity that this was not, in fact, Oliver Queen. The Oliver Queen she knew didn't smile, and he certainly didn't have the capacity to make jokes.

With a final nod, and a small wave, Oliver disappeared behind a door Felicity hadn't noticed before, presumably to do business-y things. Once he was gone, she let out a shaky breath.

Well, at least that wasn't a huge disaster, she thought to herself.

"So," Curtis said, turning to her. "You hungry?"

A short cab ride later, Curtis and Felicity arrived at the base of one of the taller skyscrapers in downtown Star City, called the Emerald Tower. Curtis informed her that the Diner's Club was at the very top floor, so they rode the elevator all the way up the dizzying fifty-two floors.

When the elevator doors opened, Felicity felt confused for a moment. She thought maybe they might have gotten off on the wrong floor because all she saw was a small, nondescript room, covered in wood paneling. A solitary person stood at a podium in the far left corner.

"May I help you?" she asked as they approached her. Her appearance was sleek — slicked back hair, all black clothes and patent leather heels.

"Yes, we're here for dinner," Curtis told her. "I'm Curtis Holt and this is Felicity Smoak."

The woman smile blandly back at them. "I'm sorry, but I'm afraid your names aren't on the list."

Curtis smiled back. "We're guests of Mr. Queen's."

Oliver's name was like some sort of key. The minute Curtis said it, the woman perked up, standing a little straighter, her smile wider. "Oh, of course. Right this way."

With that, the woman turned and opened the sliding, wood-paneled door behind her.

The room on the other side was much more impressive, to say the least. It was a moderately large room with dimmed lighting radiating from gorgeous, modern-looking chandeliers that hung from the ceiling. The left side of the space was lined with sleek black booths with smaller tables for two lining the other side, and tables of different sizes scattered all throughout the middle. The wall on the right side was one giant window, spanning one end of the room to the other, and since it was on the fifty-second floor, it had a stunning view of downtown Star City.

The woman led them to a four-top in a secluded corner of the room, right next to the window. "This is Mr. Queen's table," she said. "Please enjoy."

Once she left, Felicity let out an incredulous laugh. "Holy cow," she whispered reverently, taking in the crystal wine glasses and sterling silver place settings. "This place is incredible."

Curtis nodded in excitement. "This is the Star City Dining Club. It's one of the most exclusive dining clubs on the West Coast. There are only two ways you can be part of it: you can be invited to join — which is the super hard way because you have to have a certain income and a certain level of name recognition — or you can put your name in a lottery for an invitation. They only give out invitations when there's a vacancy, and there's a two-year waiting list to get your name in."

She let out a low whistle. "How many members does it have?"

"Forty," Curtis said solemnly. "And there are even different levels of membership. There's the bottom tier, where you can only eat here once a week and you can only bring one other person with you as your guest, and they have to be with you to dine here. Then there's the second tier, where you can dine here three times a week and you can bring two guests. The top tier is the most exclusive: only ten people are on it. They can dine here whenever they want and they can bring as many guests as they want. And they don't have to be here to let their guests dine here."

"Let me guess — Mr. Queen is on that top tier."

He made a face at her that was supposed to mean duh.

"If it's so exclusive, how do you know so much about this place?" Felicity asked.

"Well my husband and I have been on the waiting list for a year now, trying to get into the lottery," he said. "Plus, the Star City Diner's Club was featured on an episode of 'Filthy Stinking Rich: Star City.'"

She nodded. "So at the risk of sounding like a hick, what's so great about this place?"

"Well first of all, the food is amazing," Curtis gushed. "The chef is known as a visionary. But aside from the food, this is where a lot of business takes place in Star City. Most of the top executives are top tier members of this dining club, and they take advantage of their membership to conduct business away from prying ears."

All of a sudden, Felicity felt a little self conscious. She'd been to a few fancy restaurants in her lifetime, but never were they so exclusive. Nervously, she smoothed down her hair.

The waitress came by at that moment with two glasses of chilled waters. Then she disappeared.

Felicity watched her go away in confusion. "What, no menus?" she asked Curtis.

He shook his head. "It's a different pre-fixe menu every night. Four different courses, each with its own wine pairing."

Oh. Well then never mind, she thought to herself.

They both sipped on their water in companionable silence. Then, Curtis decided to break it.

"So, do you mind my asking? How do you know Oliver Queen?"

Felicity felt a blush creep up her cheeks. What a story that was, she thought sardonically to herself. She was also certain that if she told him the whole truth, there was a pretty good chance she wouldn't get hired.

"It's like he said, we met in Hertfordshire when he was on vacation there this past summer," she hedged. "Hertfordshire's so small that we meet all the tourists every season. We got to meet him and Tommy Merlyn on their first day in town."

Curtis nodded. "That's kind of cool, getting to know Mr. Queen in a social setting."

She fidgeted in her seat. There wasn't really anything she could say to that statement that wasn't a lie or wasn't unflattering.

"So, as a prospective future employee," Felicity began, "should I be worried about the buyout?"

"No, not at all," Curtis replied breezily. "Queen Consolidated has assured us that our daily operations will remain unchanged. The reason they wanted to acquire us is because they want to invest in renewable energy, and we're the company that's exploring these options the most. They want us to keep doing what we're doing."

"But do you trust that?" she prodded. "I mean, you always hear about these buyouts where bigger companies take over these smaller, promising companies and gut the whole thing in the process."

He shrugged. "I can see why you'd be worried about it. I was worried at first as well. But Mr. Queen has shown nothing but honesty and acted in complete good faith throughout the entire process."

Felicity's eyebrows quirked upward. "Really?"

He nodded. "We've been in negotiations for close to a year now. In the last three months, Mr. Queen has taken over temporarily in the transition as the head of operations at Unidac, and he's been nothing but forthright in everything he's done. He doesn't want to gut Unidac — he wants to turn it into the applied sciences division of Queen Consolidated. He wants to make our operations bigger. In fact, that's the reason I get the chance to hire for the position you're interviewing for. He wants to put more resources into what we do, which means hiring more people. Once the merger is complete, our operations will double in size."

Felicity took a moment to chew on that information. Sure, Queen Consolidated was very obviously a tech company, but she always thought that businessmen like Oliver were just all about the bottom line.

"Plus, it's not just the business stuff — it's all the stuff he does outside the boardroom."

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"He's one of the most generous men I've ever met in my life," he said solemnly. "And I'm not just saying that like some kind of suck up. I'm saying it because it's true. A few months ago, one of our contracted cleaning people got into an accident that totaled her car. She couldn't afford to buy a new one, so she was waking up at four in the morning to take three different buses to work every day. When he found out, Mr. Queen went out and bought her a new car."

Felicity blinked in surprise. "Just like that?"

"Just like that," Curtis nodded. "He even got her a minivan because he knew she had kids in elementary school."

She didn't know what to say in light of learning that news. The Oliver Queen she'd gotten to know didn't seem like the kind of person who would do something like that.

"And that's just a big gesture," Curtis continued. "It's the smaller things, too. Like when he remembers people's birthdays, or when he sits down to have a cute conversation with a rambunctious four-year-old on Bring Your Kid to Work Day. Or adding us as his guests to the most exclusive dining club in the city."

Felicity started fidgeting again. For some reason, the thought of Oliver Queen being thoughtful and generous made her a little uncomfortable, because it just didn't jive with the image she held onto for so long.

The waitress came back a few minutes later with the first course and the accompanying wine. Then she left, like a specter, the same way she appeared.

"I know this place is supposed to be super exclusive and all," Felicity began, "but the invisible server thing is kind of creepy."

Curtis laughed. "The food will make up for it, I promise."

"Laurel, the company is perfect," Felicity gushed.

After the amazing dinner, Curtis dropped her back off at her hotel where she immediately called her sister to tell her all about the interview — barring the things she was bound by nondisclosure forms to keep secret, of course. She talked about how funny Curtis was, how the company's vision for renewable energy was perfect for her and a million other things.

"That's incredible," Laurel exclaimed. "Do you think they'll make you an offer?"

"That depends," Felicity said. "Earlier I was sure they would, but now…"

She could practically hear her sister frowning on the other end of the line. "Why do you think that changed?"

"Well when the tour was winding down this afternoon, Curtis told me the company was in the middle of a buyout."

"Who's buying them out?"

"Queen Consolidated."

A pause. Then, "You're kidding."

"Hand to God."

Laurel let out a surprised laugh. "Well...I mean, OK. So Queen Consolidated is buying the company you're interviewing for. Why would that get in the way of them hiring you?"

Felicity sighed as she pressed the back of her head against the headboard. Only because the temporary head of operations professed his love for me months ago and I turned him down in the meanest way possible, she thought to herself. But of course she couldn't tell her sister any of that without divulging other things.

"I don't know. Maybe Oliver still thinks I'm not good enough to work there or something," she hedged.

Laurel hummed. "Well, don't count yourself out just yet, Lissy. You've still got two more days to prove him wrong. Besides, this is the chance you've been waiting for so long. You can't just let it pass by."

Short of building a time machine to go back in time and prevent herself from going to that stupid Beach Bash, she didn't see how she could really salvage this situation. But Laurel, was right — she owed it to herself to try.

The next day, Felicity showed up to Unidac Industries for her second day. According to the itinerary, she would spend the day meeting and talking to the people in the special projects division, since they were they people she would oversee if she got the job.

All told, it went very well. The team members were friendly and welcoming, asking her questions about her background and her interest in green technology. They were surprised at first when she told them that she didn't finish her degree at MIT, and she was afraid she might have lost them for a moment. But when someone mentioned a computer program that saved battery life, Felicity told them she had written that code during her freshman year of college for her practical applications professor. That immediately brought her back into their good graces.

The final day at Unidac was slated for meeting the higher level executives, and now that Felicity knew that the company was going through a merger with Queen Consolidated, she had braced herself for having to interview with Oliver. Perhaps even Moira.

When she arrived that morning Curtis brought her to the executive's office and handed her off to the assistant waiting outside the door. "Good luck," he winked before walking back to his own office.

The assistant smiled blandly up at Felicity and told her that his boss would meet with her in just a moment. She nodded and started pacing in front of the door, trying very hard not to rub her sweaty palms against the skirt she borrowed from her sister.

A few minutes later, the door opened and Oliver appeared. "Hello, Felicity," he said with a cordial smile. "Are you ready?"

No, she thought to herself.

"Yes," she said as she walked forward on shaky legs. He stepped aside and allowed her into his office, and as she passed by, she caught a whiff of his aftershave. It was enough to send her already frazzled nerves into overdrive.

Oliver closed the door behind her, and Felicity glanced around. The office was modest in size — it wasn't as large as she imagined it would have been. It was twice the size of her bedroom at home, but it had a gorgeous window behind the sandy-wooded desk. There were two armchairs in front of the desk, and he invited her to take a seat.

Once they were both settled, he once again gave her a polite smile that didn't hold any trace of animosity. "How are you doing?"

"Well," she answered, her hands firmly clasped together in her lap. She hoped desperately that the thumping of her heart wasn't nearly as loud as she thought it was.

Oliver's smile widened into something that looked almost...gentle. "Before we get started, I just want to let you know that you don't have anything to be nervous about in this room," he began. "This is just a chance for me to get to know your work ethic better and to see if you are a good fit for what we're trying to do here."

She swallowed hard. "That's all well and good, but how do I know you won't use...outside knowledge to inform your decision?"

He shrugged. "You won't. But suffice it to say that as a fairly practical businessman, I'm good at making the best decisions for my company."

That was only fair, she thought to herself.

"So then, Felicity, tell me: why do you want to work here?"

She took in a deep breath. "I want to work for Unidac Industries because this is exactly the kind of company the world needs."

He raised an eyebrow. "Explain."

"The earth keeps getting warmer, despite what climate change deniers say. We're living on ticking time bomb, and if we don't stop it now, humanity is in big trouble. Unidac Industries is trying to solve the problem — they're trying to find solutions for corporations to go green that won't be completely cost prohibitive, and that's exactly the kind of thing the world needs. I want to be a part of that change."

Oliver regarded her quietly as he took in her mini speech. "It's clear that your passion is also something you bring to the table. Aside from the ideas and passion, what else can Unidac Industries stand to benefit from if we hire you?"

"I'm a hard worker," she answered. "I have an incredible work ethic, and I think that as a leader, that can inspire my fellow teammates. So I'd say work ethic and inspiration."

The interview continued. With each question Oliver asked, Felicity felt herself relax more and more until she almost forgot who he was and all the baggage they collectively brought into the room.

"I have one last question," he said, near the end of the interview. "You feel very strongly about technology and its ability to change the world. Why?"

She paused for a moment to think carefully about the answer to his question.

"People have all sorts of different belief systems," she began slowly. "Some people believe in God. Some people believe in reincarnation. Some people believe in nature and mysticism. But me — I believe in science. I believe that science has the power to make people's lives better.

"History is filled with so many examples of science saving and changing lives. The development of vaccines prevent millions of child deaths every year. The moon landing taught us that if we want to, we can touch the stars. The Internet connects all of humanity together with a free exchange of ideas.

"Religions are meaningless unless they inspire people to do good and to help one another. Well, science is my religion, and it inspires me daily to help other people. And it's clear to me that everyone here at Unidac feels the same way. That's why I belong here."

Oliver fell silent at her answer, but the electricity in the room filled the void. He stared at her from across his desk, some kind of intense emotion locked in his blue eyes.

"Do you mind if I ask you a question?" Felicity murmured.

He shook his head slowly.

"Why did Queen Consolidated want to acquire Unidac? Whose decision was it?"

He took in a deep breath. "Well the company line is that Unidac's assets nicely dovetail into what we're trying to do at Queen Consolidated."

She raised her eyebrows. "And what's your line?"

"My line is that Queen Consolidated is one of the biggest corporations on the planet, and is also one of the biggest polluters. The way we do business isn't sustainable, and barring sending an exploratory space shuttle out there to look for habitable planets, we need to start doing something now to make sure we have something to leave for our children. The problem is, no corporation wants to take the lead in green technology — they're all waiting for someone else to start. If Queen Consolidated starts, makes a concentrated effort at going green and succeeding in it, then maybe we can inspire other companies to do the same thing."

Felicity's heart was thumping in her chest. They were on the same page. They believed the same thing.

Holy cow.

"So," she began, but her voice was too hoarse. She cleared her throat and tried again. "So are you the one who's going to be in charge of Unidac when the merger is complete?"

"For a little while during the transition," he nodded. "At the moment I've mostly been acting as the liaison between Queen Consolidated and Unidac, but once the acquisition is official, we'll be turning Unidac into our applied sciences division. I'll be the interim director of operations until the transition is complete and we find a permanent director of operations. After that, I'll return to QC as the chief operations officer."

Felicity nodded. "Well. That's...that's good."

Oliver nodded as well. "Was that all?"

She looked up to stare into his eyes. His bright eyes and his open expression — all of it seemed so different than that man she'd known. Or the man she thought she knew.

"You never answered my original question. Whose idea was it to buy Unidac?"

He smiled. "I thought that was obvious with my answer. It was mine."

She nodded again. It seemed like that was the only reaction she was capable of. "Right. Of course."

Sensing that the interview was coming to an end, Oliver shifted around some paper son his desk before standing up. "Well then, Felicity. Thank you for taking the time to sit down with me this morning."

She took her cue from him and stood up to shake his outstretched hand. "Thank you for allowing me the opportunity to interview with you," she answered. "I really, really appreciate it."

He smiled again. It was starting to look more and more natural on his face, though she didn't quite know if she'd get used to how her heart sped up at the sight.

Oliver escorted her out of his office and was about to hand her off to Curtis who was waiting for her by his assistant's desk. "So, Felicity. When do you return to Hertfordshire?"

"In two days," she answered. "I took a separate day to explore the city."

"Have you ever been before?"

"No, this is my first time."

"Oh." He looked a little surprised at the news, but he quickly recovered and pulled his phone out of his pocket. "Well then why don't I introduce you to my sister, Thea? She's got a couple of days off from school, and she knows the social scene way better than I do."

Felicity's eyes widened. Thea? Thea Queen? The same sister he mentioned in his letter?

"How does that sound?" Oliver prompted.

"Great," she squeaked. "That sounds great."

"Wonderful. I'll give her your number and she'll get back to you later."

The thought of going out on the town with Thea Queen was straight up terrifying for Felicity. First of all, what the hell had Oliver even told his sister about her? Second of all, she was a Queen. The first time Felicity had ever shared a meal with Oliver, he'd gone on and on about how accomplished she was, how she was fluent in multiple languages and could probably flip a guy over her head from her krav maga lessons. Just what were they supposed to talk about?

Felicity felt all the dread well up inside of her as she waited for the famous Thea Queen in the lobby of her hotel. At six p.m. on the dot, the woman herself walked right up to where she sat.

"Hi, are you Felicity?" Thea asked brightly.

She jumped from her seat, like a jack in the box. "Hi," she blurted. "Yes, I'm Felicity. Felicity Smoak."

"Thea Queen," the young woman introduced herself with a smile. "It's really nice to meet you. My brother's told me a lot about you."

That was exactly what she'd been dreading. "Well that's swell," Felicity muttered under her breath.

"Oh, don't worry," Thea giggled. "All good things, I promise."

Felicity didn't quite believe that, but she let it go.

Once introductions had been made, Thea gestured for Felicity to follow her out of the hotel. One of the valets out front hopped out of a sleek red convertible with the top up and left the door open for her. "Miss Queen," he said deferentially. The young woman shot him a winning smile while another valet opened the passenger door for Felicity.

Seconds later, they were zooming off and Felicity was clutching hard to the handle next to her. She didn't realize the billionaire heiress seemed to be a speed queen. And sure, Felicity had imagined what her death would be like millions of times before. She just never imagined that it would be in the passenger seat of Thea Queen's car.

Thea noticed her companion's terrified expression in the passenger's seat and she laughed. "Don't freak out, Felicity. I like going fast, but I haven't gotten into an accident since I've gotten sober. And I've been sober for a while now."

If nothing else, Thea's nonchalant reference to her addiction problems shocked Felicity out of her terror. "I didn't mean to — "

"I know you didn't," Thea interrupted gently. "It's just easier to get it out of the way early on. That way there's no awkwardness or anything."

Felicity nodded. She understood the rationale.

"So...where are you taking me?"

"There is a wonderful little jazz club in the Glades called Verdant," Thea said. "It's in my father's old steel factory, and I also happen to be part owner. I figure we can go there and enjoy some live music and we can talk."

That sounded pretty great to Felicity, so she relaxed a little in her seat.

Once they arrived at Verdant, a swarm of paparazzi descended upon Thea's car. In a haze of confusion and immense shock, Felicity froze in their wake, but Thea hopped out of the car, grabbed onto Felicity's elbow and pushed her way through the throng, ignoring the flashes and the shouted questions.

Eventually they got through the jostling crowd and into the safety of the building. The bouncers standing in front of the club pushed back the paparazzi and closed the doors firmly behind them.

"Sorry about that," Thea apologized. "I don't know how they heard that we were coming here."

"It's fine," Felicity answered as she straightened her clothes. "I should have expected it, honestly."

Once they had recalibrated themselves, Thea led Felicity up a flight of stairs to the balcony overlooking the whole club.

As she took it all in, Felicity couldn't help but think that there was no way this place had been a steel mill. The only clue really was the sheer size of the place; everything else — from the hardwood floors to the towering plants and cream colored walls made it feel like just the place for a tasteful jazz club.

The musicians were in the middle of setting up on a stage at the bottom. The bassist plucked at a random string every so often as he tuned, the keyboard player was fiddling around with switches and cords, and the horn players were flipping through sheets of music they kept on their music stands.

The two women settled into a booth next to the railing, which had the best view of the stage. The minute their butts touched the seats, a waitress appeared seemingly from out of nowhere.

"I'll have a club soda," Thea said. "Felicity?"

The blonde glanced up. "Oh. Um...I'll take a cabernet?"

The waitress nodded and disappeared almost as quickly as she came.

"So," Thea began, "how are you liking Star City so far?"

"It's great," Felicity nodded. "It's so...so different than Hertfordshire. It's big, which is mostly what I like about it. I can get lost here. I can disappear into a crowd because no one knows who I am — no one knows who my parents are, and no one knows about the time I stepped on our third grade class hamster."

Thea laughed at that.

"I've always wanted to live in a big city. There's more to do and more to see. And I always feel like there are big, important things happening. Plus, the feeling of anonymity is pretty great, you know?"

Thea sighed. "I wish."

Felicity's face fell when she realized what she said and who she said it to. This was Thea Queen, for crying out loud. Didn't she spend weeks looking back on all of the tabloid news of her downward spiral into addiction? Didn't they have to fight a crowd of paparazzi just to get into this place?

"I'm sorry," Felicity said quietly. "It can't be easy."

Thea sighed, but shrugged her petite shoulders. "No, it isn't. But I've got a great support system, which is more than I can say for a lot of people who have to deal with addiction."

Felicity gave her a sad smile. "Yeah. I can imagine."

The waitress came by at that moment with their drinks, then once again dissolved into the shadows.

"So, do you mind if I ask a question?" Thea asked.

"No, not at all."

"How did you meet my brother?"

Felicity sipped at her wine with her eyebrows raised over the rim. "You mean Oliver didn't tell you?"

"He didn't tell me specifics, which probably means it doesn't make him look very good," Thea said.

That forced a laugh out of Felicity.

"You know your brother well," she chuckled. Then she proceeded to recount the Beach Bash. She even told her about the secret conversation she overheard between Oliver and Tommy behind the bathrooms, the same one in which Oliver basically called Felicity a hick and a dunce.

Thea winced when Felicity got to that part. "Yeah…" she trailed off. "My brother is...well, my brother has never done well with strangers. In strange places."

"That's what everyone has told me," Felicity nodded. "But while I've seen him here, he's like...he's like a completely different person. In Hertfordshire and in Central City, he practically never smiled, but here he smiles all the time. I almost didn't recognize him with his teeth showing."

Thea laughed. "I know what you're saying. I actually have a theory about that."

"And that is?"

"Well, like I said, Ollie's really bad around people he doesn't know. He's especially bad when he's in a place he doesn't know. It's one thing to make him talk to a stranger, but it's a whole different thing when he's away from Star City. It makes him uncomfortable and moody, like there's something permanently stuck up his butt. It's why he made such a terrible impression in Hertfordshire. In Central City he was probably a little more personable, right? Well, that's because he goes to Central City a lot on business. He knows the city well, but it's not home. Once he's home, he's so much more like himself."

It was almost like Thea had flipped a switch in Felicity's brain. Oliver's behavior suddenly made so much more sense — his rigid and uncomfortable demeanor in Hertfordshire, his looser but still reserved attitude in Central City...then his completely different manner here in Star City.

It wasn't that Oliver was acting like a pod version of himself around her, now that she was here — no, he was finally himself. For the first time, she saw him for who he really was.

"Why do you think that is?" Felicity asked.

Thea shrugged. "I'm not really sure," she admitted. "I mean, I think to some extent all of us are the same way, right? We're different people outside our comfort zones than we are in them. But I think with Ollie it's because of the whole billionaire complex."

"Billionaire complex?"

"Yeah. There's tons of people who want to be friends with him just because he's rich and famous and handsome, and there are even more women out there who want to date him for those reasons. Star City's pretty much used to him, and he knows who to stay away from when he's here. But when he's elsewhere, he doesn't have that home field advantage."

Thea was dropping truth bomb after truth bomb right in front of her, so much so that Felicity was beginning to question everything she ever thought about Oliver and his family. She was seeing him with brand-new eyes, and it was almost disorienting.

The younger woman was watching Felicity very carefully. "I'm really glad I got to meet with you, you know," she said. "My brother had said so much about you that I got really curious. With how weird he is about new people from new places, I figured you had to be really special to catch his attention."

Felicity blushed. "Do you...do you mind if I ask…?"

"What he's been saying about you?"

"Well...yeah."

Thea smirked. "Well he told me you were very pretty and incredibly smart. I believe his words were, 'She's got one of those brains you rarely see outside of Silicon Valley or Harvard.'"

That made Felicity's blush deepen. Words completely escaped her.

Thea seemed to realize how embarrassed Felicity was, so she leaned forward and placed a hand on the other woman's arm.

"You know, Felicity — my brother doesn't make the best first impression in the world, but once he feels loyal to someone, he'll stick by their side no matter what. It's a small but privileged group, and I think it's safe to say that you can count yourself in it."

At the end of her very pleasant evening with Thea Queen, the younger woman dropped Felicity off at her hotel with a promise to take her to brunch the next morning to start off a fully day of Star City shopping.

Felicity was waiting in the lobby, and once again, Thea appeared at ten a.m., right on the dot. But this time, she had someone else in tow.

"Oliver," Felicity said in surprise. "I...I didn't…what I mean is...well you're...I mean..."

The man in question raised an eyebrow while Thea struggled to hide her smile.

"I didn't realize you were coming with us," Felicity finished lamely.

"That's all right, isn't it?" he asked, a hint of amusement in his tone.

"Of course," she answered, her tone a few octaves higher than normal. She immediately went red while her inner self continued to berate her for how dumb and awkward she was acting.

"Great," Thea chirped. "I know a great place out in Starling Heights. It just opened a few weeks ago and the sous chef has a big crush on me, so we'll get stuff for free."

Oliver rolled his eyes and Felicity couldn't help but laugh. It was heartwarming to know that even billionaire children could have such typical sibling interactions.

They were about to walk out of the lobby when Felicity's phone started buzzing. She paused to pull her phone out of her purse and saw Laurel's picture pop up on the caller ID.

"Hey, Laurel," she greeted as soon as she answered. "Listen, I can't really talk — "

"Lissy, you have to come home."

The tone in her voice immediately sent ice running through Felicity's veins. It also didn't escape her notice that Laurel's voice was wavering, almost like she was crying.

"Why? What happened? What's going on?"

A pause.

"It's Sara."